December 2015 Net Worth Review

It's 2016 Baby!!

Cash - $30,526 ($5,023)
Investments - $187,290 ($3,745)
Home Value - $405,000 ($39,000)
Personal Assets - $62,492 ($4,458)
Less: Liabilities - $312,647 (-$2,673)

Assets -

Cash - This seems a bit misleading.  The increase is primarily related to being reimbursed for work-related expenses and not paying off the credit card until early January.  Otherwise, it's just small increases in CSV and our cash accounts as the markets have been very volatile, so I've stopped making investments.

Investments - Overall, the markets are way down since October 2015.  We made over $6,300 in contributions to our accounts, but our accounts fell due to choppy markets.  For the year, the stock market was slightly DOWN.

Personal Assets - 

Home Value - So, our neighbors moved in and besides being great people with young kids, they gave us a little more insight to what our home is worth.  We have the exact same lay-out as our neighbor and it just sold for over $430k.  It has an updated kitchen, so I'm keeping our value down, but the market remains active and $400k seems reasonable in our area.

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $285,675 - Steady, plus we made our annual Dec 31 payment for tax purposes.

Student Loans - $1,946 - Just making our usual $100/month payments.  At 1.26%, I have no concern with paying them off early.

Acura Loan - $11,145 - 0.9% interest.
Sonata Hybrid - $13,881 - 3.99% interest.
 

Total Joint Net Worth - $372,660!  A 25% increase since Year-End!  Whoa!! Mostly, its due to Home Value, but without that it still would have been 12.3%

It's amazing to see how far we've come since we took our finances seriously!!

Dec-15	372,660	0.0%
Dec-14	297,211	25.4%
Dec-13	240,526	54.9%
Dec-12	178,004	109.4%
Mar-12	$               127,797	191.6%

 

October 2015 Net Worth Review

Wow - I didn't realize its been 5 months since my last review.  Time to get back on track....

Here's to the Numbers (since May2015)!!

Cash - $25,503 (-$3,600)
Investments - $183,545 ($13,076)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $66,950 ($19,250)
Less: Liabilities - $315,320 ($10,236)

Assets -

Cash - So the wife has not been working for 6 months and we've been consciously allocating more savings into mutual funds than our checking accounts.  I expect this to go up slightly as the Prof returns to work today but we'll still be pushing for more stock market returns in the future.

Investments - The market has been crazy since May.  It was down 12% in August but then had its best month in 4 years in October.  However, the selling of vehicles attributed to a $8,750 contribution to our investing account.

Personal Assets - 

We said goodbye to the 2006 Sonata and the 2009 Acura MDX!! First, we're taken over the payments on my mother-in-law's 2012 MDX.  The payments were roughly the same and will only extend the life of our loan by 6 months.  As a condition of this arrangement, I needed to get a new car.  My mother-in-law did not like her grandchildren riding around in a 2006 sedan with 110,000 miles on it.  So, I bought a 2013 Sonata Hybrid!  It's been 6 weeks and I've purchased one tank of gas! 

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $287,130 - Steady payments.  Nearly back to our principal pre-refinance.

Student Loans - $2,141 - Just making our usual $100/month payments.  At 1.26%, I have no concern with paying them off early.

Acura Loan - $12,143 - 0.9% interest.
Sonata Hybrid - $14,388 - 3.99% interest.
 

Total Joint Net Worth - $326,193.  A 5.8% increase since May and 9.8% since Year-End! 
 

May 2015 Net Worth Review

Wow - I didn't realize its been 5 months since my last review.  Time to get back on track....

Here's to the Numbers (since January 2015)!!

Cash - $29,103 ($6,104)
Investments - $170,469 ($11,868)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $47,700 (-$1,787)
Less: Liabilities - $305,084 ($157)

Assets -

Cash - Wow.  I'm very happy about our ability to save $6k while buying a bed, hanging a kid (and push present) and home upkeep.  We've set a goal of updating our kitchen in the next 24 months, so we've made a big push to allocate money to savings more in 2015.

Investments - Great example of how steady contributions can grow over time.  The markets have performed well and we've made our usual 401k and several 529 investments.

Personal Assets - 

Nothing to see here.  Just depreciation of my Sonata.

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $289,526 - Well, we refinanced at 3.875% and lowered our payments.  We did add some principal back to eliminate all of our closing costs - which was a nice boost to cash.

Student Loans - $2,629 - Just making our usual $100/month payments.  At 1.26%, I have no concern with paying them off early.

Acura Loan - $9,929 - Steady payments!
 

Total Joint Net Worth - $308,187.  A 5.5% increase since January and 3.7% since January! 

Retirement savings Up - Check.
Cash Levels - Check
Lowered Debt Payments - Check

Very happy with 2015 so far!!

January 2015 Net Worth Review

I can't believe I never wrote a review for YE.  Our December Net Worth was $297,211!  So close to $300k

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $22,999 (-$2,699)
Investments - $158,601 (-$790)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $49,487 ($0)
Less: Liabilities - $304.927 (-$1,713)

Assets -

Cash - Tough couple months as we've taken on some major changes within our house.  I actually started a new job and because of our new pay cycle, missed a paycheck in January.  Also, we completely furnished Baby #1's big boy room through Pottery Barn.  So, he's all ready to move once his lil sister comes!!  In addition, in January, we renovated our family room.  We covered the wood paneling and painted the walls and bricks a toupe/white to brighten up the room!  It looks great these items took their tool on the bank account.

To offset some of this stuff, the Prof has been side hustling like crazy through ebay and craigslist.  We've sold nearly $1,300 of old stuff in the last two months!  One man's junk is another man's treasure.

Investments - A rough few months in the market.  No major contributions on our end, but the markets have been up and then down in December and January.

Personal Assets - 

Nothing to see here.

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $287,084 - Slow and steady.  We are actually investigating refinancing this bad boy in order to lower our interest rate 0.5%.  It'll lower our monthly payment by about $100 but allow us to do with very minimal closing cost - win/win.

Student Loans - $3,017 (-$405) - Another one bites the dust!  I paid off my third and last graduate student loan this month!  All that is left are my undergrad loans at 1.26% - which means I pay $100/month and only $4 in interest.  I'm in no hurry to kill these right now.

Acura Loan - $11,826   Getting back on the car payment horse.  I need to get rid of this in order to start thinking about my new car!

Total Joint Net Worth - $292,160.  A -1.7% drop since December!  We were so close to $300k - soon enough.

That being said - my goal for 2015 is to increase my liquidity.  I've got a hefty retirement fund and stable earnings.  I'd like to increase my emergency fund and cash accounts.  With a new baby on the way, I'm more concerned about handling the month to month stuff than my retirement right now.  I'll still contribute 7% of my paycheck, but need to build up savings for future projects/cars.

November 2014 Net Worth Review

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $25,698 ($127)
Investments - $159,391 ($10,449)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $49,487 (-$1,113)
Less: Liabilities - $306,640 (-$4,302)

Assets -

Cash - A couple large car repairs led to us holding steady in cash.  The Acura needed four (4) new tires and my car needed tires and brakes/rotors within a 6 week period.  So, in addition to paying down debt in September, October was about managing our cash while maintaining out savings.

Investments - Amazing to see how this area has grown!  Over $125k in retirement assets, nearly $18k towards Baby #1's college savings.  Steady growth is what I hope for and love seeing the markets help out!

Personal Assets - 

Just lowering the value of cars....

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $287,971 - I STILL hate this beast.  Slow and steady.

Student Loans - $3,426 (-$2,028) - We've made significant progress in this area and the 6.55% grad loans are a $215?  I'll be paying this off and just haven't due to laziness and desire to build cash.  Undergrad loans are at 1.26% - so the $4/month interest paid is worth waiting to pay it down.

Acura Loan - $12,244   Made some strides in this area and will be continuing this moving forward now that Student Loans have been reduced.
 

Total Joint Net Worth - $293,935.  A 4.9% improvement in three months!  One month to go in 2014 and $300k looks achievable - although tough.

August 2014 New Worth Review

Wow, its actually been 3 months since our last review.  This should make for some interesting fluctuations....

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $25,571 (-$3,410) 
Investments - $148,942 ($9,134)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $50,600 (-$925)
Less: Liabilities - $310,942 (-$8,197)

Assets -

Cash - We really need to monitor our cash as the Prof has started her new Part-Time position and our monthly income has decreased by 15%.  We've made significant debt progress, so the need to get crazy there is gone, but maintaining our diligence is as important as ever.

Investments - Markets continue to market!  Plus, I've finally qualified for my company 401k match, so our monthly contributions just doubled!  I love it!

Personal Assets - 

Just lowering the value of cars....

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $289,198 - I hate this beast.  Slow and steady.

Student Loans - $5,454 (-$3,703) - Continue to get loco with the graduate student loans in preparation for job change.  My 6.55% (set up monthly direct debits to lower the rate) graduate student loans are at $1,954!!  Should be gone by end of September!

Acura Loan - $13,290   Very slow progress here as I had to dial it back due to some unexpected expenses during the summer.  We had a home improvement project take over our basement in June and we created an awesome living space for the family.  I love it, but not the check book impact.

PNC (Screw You) Loan - $0 - Eff You.

Total Joint Net Worth - $280,171.  A 11% improvement in three months!  WOW!  That is awesome and its a nice kick in the pants as I was feeling worried about the part-time change and other things.  THat's incredible and I think $300,000 is totally achievable by the end of the year if the market continue to rock out!  Even still, our debt progress is encouraging and really gets me excited.

May 2014 Net Worth Review

I just realized now that I did not post last month.  Spring has come and gone and Summer will soon be upon us.

Here's to the Numbers!!

Cash - $28,981 (-$3,338) 
Investments - $139,808 ($2,498)
Home Value - $366,000 ($0)
Personal Assets - $51,525 (-$842)
Less: Liabilities - $319,139 (-$8,410)

Assets -

Cash - Our cash balance took a bite but its been for good reason.  As I mentioned previously, we decided that we have a solid emergency fund and that we should be knocking out our debts faster.  So, I'm okay with the cash balance, although we had a bad spend month, the overall progress was very good.

Investments - We've made normal 401k contributions during the month, but otherwise, its the markets doing their thing!  I'm very proud of our retirement situation and am actually considering dialing back a little bit as the Prof and I consider some family/career goals and how we can gain financial freedom.  Her monthly contributions are around $160, which is always good, but would the extra $125 be utilized more as extra debt payment and allow her to stop working faster.  It's a personal finance no-no to stop contributing to retirement, but sometimes we need to reevaluate priorities.

Personal Assets - 

Just lowering the value of cars....

Liabilities -

Mortgage - $290,412 - I hate this beast.  Slow and steady.

Student Loans - $9,184 (-$5,036) - BAM! BAM!  One of my two graduate loans is GONE!  We had a balance of $18k in June of last year and $14k in December.  Now- GONE!  That feels so good!

Acura Loan - $13,485   Nothing crazy.  Just the usual payments being made.

PNC (Screw You) Loan - $3,058- I hate writing these checks and will be glad when all my PNC accounts are closed.

Total Joint Net Worth - $252,213.  A 5.9% improvement in two months.  I'm pleasantly surprised!  We had an unpleasant family event this past month and performed some home improvement projects to appease our mental state.  It helped, but did put a dent in our credit card.  Not proud of that, but we'll continue our steady upward climb to major financial freedom.